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Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Added July 22, 2016

Then Abraham drew nearer (to the Lord) and said “Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty? Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city…?” (Genesis 18)

Last week we saw Abraham’s hospitality with strangers. Today we see his courage and faith interceded before God on behalf of the innocent, who faced extermination with all the guilty in the sinful city of Sodom. The Gospel also tells us of the power of intercessory prayer. At Mass, after the homily, we offer the “General Intercessions”, where we intercede for all those in need of God’s mercy or help.

In the Gospel, Jesus also teaches us to pray for what we need, but to do so with faith, trusting in the wisdom of God. God always answers our prayers and gives us what we most need, but it may not always be exactly what we asked for. As we pray we are also entrusting our lives to God, trusting that he knows what we and others most need.